The Little Way

Peter Maurin Catholic Worker

Vol. V, No. 2

1116 Iredell Street, Durham, NC 27705

Holy Week 2015

Holy Monday

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday

Page 3

Page 6

Page 8

We Fight the Demons

I was walking up Iredell Street to Morning Prayer at St.
Josephs the other day after Mass, and my beloved wife
said that she was going to stop off at our apartment,
which is between the Maurin House and the Church,
and do a few things. Without any thought, I said, OK,
that sounds good. Im going to go Fight the demons. I
was quoting a line from a documentary I had seen a
few years ago about Mount Athos, the great Eastern
Orthodox monastic oasis. The mountain, on which are
founded several monasteries of ancient provenance, is
famous for its austerity, including the total ban of
women from the Island. In this documentary - and
dont ask me how they got the monks to agree to a
photo shoot - I remember one apparently exasperated
reporter trying to understand. What is it that you do
here? the reporter asked. The old monk responded
matter-of-factly - as if it should have been obvious -
We Fight the demons.
I had never thought of our little Catholic Worker as
engaged in the business of Fighting the demons. But for
some reason the thought stuck with me all throughout
Morning Prayer, the rest of the day, and I am still
thinking about it. Im still not sure exactly why that
struck me or inspired me as it did. But I wonder if it
Holy Week 2015

Fr. Colin Miller

has something to do with the fact that, like Mt. Athos,

the tiny life we live up and down Iredell Street seems
pretty insigniFicant. And, almost accidentally, I pointed
myself to the fact that it is not. Saying the prayers of the
Church has cosmic ramiFications.
Lets not make things more complicated than they are.
It is important to try to be attentive in saying the OfFice.
It is important to do it for training in virtue. It is
important to do it as a mission to the poor, who are at
the Church every day way before any of us. You might
even try to have the right motives for saying the
prayers - not to look good or to check your Christian
obligation box, or to make yourself feel better than
others. You might try not to be late, and you might try
to listen and not daydream during the readings. You
could try to bring a church friend or not to snub the
guys out back begging for change. Yes, its probably
hypocritical to say the prayers and then go about the
rest of your day as if that didnt really make any
difference. We should try to be more welcoming,
inviting, and kind to those who come. These are all
good things to do, and they have their proper places in
the exercise of daily prayer that is the Christian life. No
doubt.
(continued on p. 2)

(Demons cont.)

But it is important to remember that we are in a

battle, and that just showing up and saying the Daily
OfFice makes the demons shriek. Just that engages us
in the cosmic life and death struggle. Psalms are said
twice a day in that place. The Holy SacriFice is offered
in St. Clare Chapel. The poor are welcomed (or, lets
be honest - tolerated). Most of it is unnoticed, hidden,
silent. That is necessarily so and an asset, not a
hindrance. St. Ignatius of Antioch says that the whole
mystery of our redemption - incarnation, passion and

resurrection - all happened silently, without the

world knowing. Lets not assume that we are doing
battle the same way as the monks at Athos are, but
there is no reason not to think that our paltry efforts
do not at least sharpen their swords. We are
sometimes so at pains to convince ourselves that
what we are doing is not a compartmentalized
spiritual or religious thing and we are right to
think that in every respect our way of life is a political
rebellion. But lets not forget that it is precisely in the
recognition of the breadth of the political that makes
politics also a struggle with the invisible world. The
principalities and powers are contravened each time
we bow down and bend the knee, or, for that matter,
bend the knee to walk instead of pushing the gas
pedal. Walking and praying makes the demons and
the oil executives mad. Fr. Justin is right that walking
is a political act, it is also spiritual warfare.

The recognition that our everyday lives of prayer -

even when poorly done - participate in the war in
heaven is also important for a proper understanding
of the nature of the devastated world we live in. The
inventory of the modern secular world includes free
ranging human choice on the one hand and blind
causal relations on the other. When that is the sum of
the population of the cosmos, it is no wonder that
people go crazy trying to Figure out whom to blame.
So we blame the Republicans or the Democrats or the
Mexicans or the Muslims or the Christians, or
whomever, because we think wrongly about the way
that the world works. It is no wonder given this
version of things that tormented folks sometimes
walk into post ofFices or high schools with guns and
take the lives of others. This is a Fit of blaming that
Finds no other outlet.
Such horror is all the more understandable when we
realize that the evil that is so apparent in our world
has some order to it that in many cases becomes
quite easy to name and catalogue. Call it liberalism;
call it industrialism; call it the techno-scientiFic
complex; call it bourgeois capitalism; call it the
market-state; call it the consumer society; call it any
combination of these things. They are all viable
descriptions of the history and state of our world.
They all have a deFinite shape to them, that looks like
it has some sort of mind behind it. Indeed it must. But
when the only minds you think populate the cosmos
are human ones, it is no wonder so much blaming
goes on. It is no wonder that conspiracy theories
abound, looking for scapegoats. This world drives
people absolutely crazy.
There is no doubt that human beings, in a variety of
ways, participate extensively in the making of the
devastated world we live in. Yet human sinfulness is
not the only part of the equation. Our battle is not
against Flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the authorities of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavens. We Fight the demons.
So keep praying. Dont ever worry that it is
insigniFicant. The masses look on, even if they are
discarnate masses. That, after all, is what these
Lenten days are all about. The Lord Jesus fought an
unnoticed battle with discarnate Satan in the
wilderness for forty days. +

Holy Week 2015

Holy Monday

Leigh Edwards Miller, Catholic Worker, Durham

On Palm Sunday, the Church set us off on a journey. It

is, really, the only journey that exists. It is the
pilgrimage that every person takes, will it or nil it.
Palm Sunday sets us off onto the Week that is called
Holy, and Holy Monday begins us on Jesus journey to
Jerusalem, which is a journey to the cross and, at its
heart, the journey to death and this particular
journey is one often called the Way.
As mentioned, everyone takes this path, which is a
path to death, whether they like it or not. But a
Christians intentional observance of this week,
starting the journey to death today with our Lord,
indicates that their understanding of, and thus
manner of taking, this journey is different from the
way the rest of the world may journey to death. So,
why are you here? Does this week matter? What
about this Monday changes things?
Even if you do not know the answer to that question,
or if you are squirming because you know, like me,
that your reason for observing Holy Monday is
unclear at best, even your mere recognition of the
day says something. It says, at the least, that
something - family, wandering, anger, desperation,
questions about life and death has been important
enough to bring you to turn your attention to the
Week called Holy with the suspicion that you may
Find answers to those unanswered or unsatisFied
parts of your life. We all turn our attention to Holy
Week in part because we are not satisFied with or,
perhaps, even angry about - the story that all our
lives lead ultimately to nothing but death. One does
not show up to Holy Week in some form unless she
knows, if even in the smallest of ways, that something
is wrong with the world that may be Fixed, and
perhaps may be Fixed here. On our facing of suffering
and death, we think that in this mans journey to
Jerusalem there at least may be some sort of answer
to all of the worlds wrong.
So, though all of mankind is on this journey towards
death, your turning of face towards Jerusalem,
towards Holy Week, at least says that something
about this journey seems off to you. You sense that,
regardless of how you stand in relationship with the
Lord, there must be something else other than the
reign of nihlism. You have not yet accepted the
narrative that life just ends in nothingness, and so
Holy Week 2015

you have entered on this Holy Monday onto the Way.

Welcome.
As we all may have different reasons for turning our
face to Holy Week, perhaps instead of asking Why
are you here? a better question that we all who
celebrate this week may hold in common is Where
are you? For, with this question we return to the
beginning of all beginnings, including the beginning
of this journey, to the Garden of Eden. Where are
you?: the question the LORD asks of Adam, and
which he subsequently asks to all of mankind.
Where are you? For, no matter what the why is to
your presence here, you being here already makes
obvious that you know the answer to the question
that the LORD asks to Adam. Where are you? God
asks. I am hiding together we all reply.
We are hiding, we are all hiding or wanting to hide
our sin, our newfound nakedness, from the Lord. I
am hiding, he says, I saw that I was naked and I was
afraid. We, as Adam, have tried to be God. We have
tried to control our lives, our selves, those closest to
us, and, ashamedly, we have tried to control the Lord.
Yet, we know, like Adam, that in the midst of these
attempts we are naked. We know our self-wrought
schemes of control will not work, and so we are
afraid of what would happen if we showed ourselves
to the one whom we tried to usurp. There is no
reason to be here today unless we all know that
things have gone wrong and we are afraid of facing
up to it. I was afraid, so I hid myself.
The LORD responds: Who told you? Did you eat of
the fruit? We could spend much time on original
nakedness and what has changed from Adams
creation to this conversation, but, for now, let us look
at the second part of the question and its response:
Have you eaten of the fruit? To this Adam gives his
pathetic reply, The woman whom you gave me to be
with, she gave me Here, how quickly, we have
already arrived at the end of our journey. We have
arrived at the death in Jerusalem. Fr. Richard
Neuhaus, in his book Death on a Friday Afternoon,
spends an extended period on this response. He
notes that, like Adam, we are afraid, we know things
are wrong, and because we know our lives must
matter we must have someone to blame.
(continued on pg. 5)
"3

Easy Essays
By Peter Maurin

Usurers Are Not Gentlemen

1. The Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church
forbade lending money at interest.
2. Lending at interest
was called usury
by the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.
3. Usurers were not considered
to be gentlemen
when people used to listen
to the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church.
4. When people used to listen
to the Prophets of Israel
and the Fathers of the Church
they could not see anything gentle
in trying to live
on the sweat of somebody else's brow
by lending money at interest.
Fritz Eichenberg

By Kelly Steele

Regard For The Soil

1. Andrew Nelson Lytle says:
The escape from industrialism
is not in socialism
or in sovietism.
2. The answer lies
in a return to a society
where agriculture is practised
by most of the people.
3. It is in fact impossible
for any culture
to be sound and healthy
without a proper regard
for the soil,
no matter
how many urban dwellers
think that their food
comes from groceries
and delicatessens
or their milk from tin cans.
4. This ignorance
does not release them
from a Final dependence
upon the farm.

"
4

Holy Week 2015

(Holy Monday cont.)

All of the evil, all of the hurt of the world, cries out for
justice. Just look at the One Campaigns, the G8
Summits, the non-proFits, the social movements with
grandiose promises to Fix the problems of the world.
The suffering cries out for vindication. For all of the
sin, the pride, the suffering and the death, someone
must be to blame, for there must be some way to Fix it.
Fr. Neuhaus points out that, from the beginning the
wise, the good, the philosophers and the despots have
wrestled with this question: Who is at fault? Who is
guilty? Us evildoers all have excuses[: t]he guards at
the death camps, the husband cheating on his wife,
the executive padding his
expense account, the physician
g i v i n g a l e t h a l d o s e o f
m o r p h i n e I wa s o b ey i n g
superior orders, I have needs
that must be met, Everybody
does it, We do a favor relieving
people of their useless lives.
Name the crime, Neuhaus
writes, and it is Fitted with an
excuseAnd we are back to,
Adam, where are you? and his
pathetic response, The woman
whom you gave me to be with
All the Adams and the Eves join
with the brightest and the best
of philosophers to declare that
this is just the way the world is,
and this is how we must survive
it.
And, yet, when the suffering does come for reasons
originating outside of ourselves, we insist - who is
responsible for this way of the world? Who put us in
that job? Who gave us those needs? Who made the
world work like that? Who made lives useless? Who
gave us the woman? At the end of the day, all of our
attempts to blame externalities are attempts to blame
the God who gave us this world, this life, this body.
With Adam, our attempts to dodge the blame must be
to say to God: you gave that woman to be with me,
and you did not Fix it. It is the blaming of God that,
though beginning with the foundation of the world,
ends with: Crucify Him!
Here, Neuhaus again notes, we face a mystery far
beyond our ability to understand. God willingly
Holy Week 2015

accepts this verdict. The Lord takes on our judgment

of guilty and whats more bears the punishment
that is rightly ours. If we want to talk about a need for
justice, this is justice turned upside down. An
innocent man, the Judge himself, takes on the
sentence meant for the damned. The only one not to
blame takes on our judgment for us for our own
salvation.
At the end of the day, given the standard worldly idea
of justice, the Lords death on the cross is a reckless,
senseless, (shall we even dare to whisper unjust?),
love. It is the justice of God that cannot be understood
in terms of give and take, in the
terms of the world, but only in
terms of love.
With such a sacriFice the Lord
Jesus beckons to us: Come, come
out from your hiding. Let us
imit a te t he Lord a nd His
disciples by giving, without
counting the cost, all that we
have to the Lord. Let us anoint
him with our life, with our
prayers, and with our alms. Let
us offer our sacriFice of fasting
and prayer this Holy Week, and
in the process attend to the most
important rending of our hearts:
charity, patience, and mercy
unto those who hate us and
whom we hate. Whether you
have kept a strict fast all Lent or
have not fasted at all, this is what it comes down to
commit yourself again to this journey today. Be you
Simon Peter, be you Simon the Cyrene or be you
Dysmas, the thief on the cross, it is never, never too
late to join Christ on this journey.
Come, let us go with joyful hearts on that journey,
armed only with a love that sacriFices all for the good
of the other. Let us prepare ourselves to die with Him
who, through death, gives us life. Let us go on this way
with hearts so softened by humility that we no longer
look even to blame Adam but instead give awe-Filled
thanks to the Lord of Mercy, whose praises we sing:
O Happy Fault, O Fortunate Fall, that gave for us so
great a Savior.+
"5

Maundy Thursday

Joe Sroka, Catholic Worker, Durham

Holy Week presses on. We continue the journey feet, and your sta in your hand; and you shall eat it
of Christs nal footsteps before his crucixion, death, hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord (Ex 12:11).
and resurrection. On this day, Maundy Thursday, the Israel was to remember this day not only as the one-
liturgy, the work of the people, is to participate in the time event of the Lord bringing them out of Egypt but
Last Supper and foot washing. Todays Eucharist is the as a perpetual commandment. Their bodily posture in
memorial of the institution of the Eucharist itself. the meal loins girded, sandals on feet, sta in hand,
Today acknowledges the Son passing over to the and eating hurriedly points to their participatory
Father by his death and resurrection. This New action in the work of the Lord, the passing over of
Passover is anticipated in the Last Supper and Israel and the striking down of Egypt.
celebrated in the Eucharist, the sacrament which fullls
This readiness for action of the Israelites is not
the Jewish Passover and anticipates the churchs nal unlike the readiness Jesus demands of his followers at
passing over in glory to the Kingdom. Today is the the Last Supper. This readiness is not only required of
beginning of the Triduum, the Three Days, which will his disciples but also for himself. He is prepared to
culminate in the Easter Vigil. Like the importance that fulll his own words, and I, when I am lifted up from
the church gives Sunday in the course of the week, the earth, will draw all people to myself (Jn 12:32). It
these three days are the culmination of
is Jesus who took a towel, and girded
the entire liturgical year. Today, though,
himself (Jn 13:4). The same Lord who
is Maundy Thursday. In between tonight
will draw all people and all things to
and Easter is the fast of Good Friday and
himself by his suering, death, and
Holy Saturday that will remind us that
resurrection, is the One who took a towel
we still await the joy of the Resurrection.
and girded himself. Jesus Christ his only
M a u n d y l i k e l y c o m e s f r o m
Son our Lord is sacrice and humble
mandatum, I give: I give you a new
servant. The perpetual memory of that
commandment, says the Lord: love one
his precious death and sacrice is bound
another as I have loved you (John 13:34).
up in Jesus submission to the Father to
If the Lord gives, we receive. By now, the
be sacrice and servant.
practices of Lent, those of prayer, fasting,

John Chrysostom, commenting on
and almsgiving, have softened our hearts
Paul, has this to say about the institution
to the precepts of the Lord. We have been
of the Eucharist: The Master gave up
prepared for this night through concrete,
everything, including himself, for us
bodily practices; practices that are only
whereas we are reluctant even to share a
Fritz Eichenberg
possible by His grace. Indeed, they are
licle food with our fellow believers. But if
practices that Christ himself practiced and
you come for a sacrice of thanksgiving, do
in participating in them, we participate in Him. not do anything unworthy of that sacrice. On
Hopefully, then, our gaze has been refocused to the Maundy Thursday, we are reminded that in presenting
Lord, our desires recalibrated to the Lords thy will be unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to
done. He is the giver not only of all good gifts but of be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrice unto thee
this new commandment too.
we must be ready to gird ourselves as humble servants.
Like Peter Maurins easy essay, a philosophy In the Eucharist, we are reminded that how we eat is a
so old that it looks new, Jesus new commandment reection of what we eat. In taking the Body and Blood
fullls the old commandment given to Israel. The Last of Christ into ourselves, may we also be girded with
Supper, too, looks like the passover of old. Tonight, the faith and humility to enact the new commandment:
church reads from Scripture the institution of the rst love one another as Christ loved us.+
Passover given to Israel by the Lord. This is how you
shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your
"
6

Holy Week 2015

Panhandling and Community News

by Joe Sroka

Not much has changed since the last edition in February. Perhaps like Fr. Colins description of the Fight with the
demons, I often let much slip by unnoticed or appear insigniFicant. Rather, there is much from our simple life to
be celebrated or to be seen within the cosmic battle. First, the recently remodeled second Floor has given us an
extra room to be set aside as a Christ Room (ironically, it is Fr. Colins old room) and retain nine permanent
residents. It is another way for us to embrace our Catholic Worker roots and Dorothy Days ideal that we give
hospitality not because people remind us of Christ, but because they are Christ. With the actual and anticipated
arrival of children, several grandparents have stayed in the Room. Others are our friends who have been turned
away from shelter/housing ministries or hotels. They usually stay for a night. Because it is a room, and not the
previously offered couch or spot on the Floor, our guests can have as much sleep and privacy as they want.
Uninterrupted sleep and privacy are hard to come by even in the House, but they are invaluable gifts on the
street.
Recently, we have found a way to accept contributions electronically by ACH (bank transfer) and credit card.
There is even a recurring option for those who contribute a monthly pledge. Paper checks are still preferred but
many of our supporters have asked for an electronic option. Visit our website, cfw.dionc.org, under the Begging
tab for a link to Donate Now.
Finally, some news from our friends in diaspora. Clare Inez, daughter of Fr. Stephen and Amanda Crawford, will
be baptized into Christs one holy catholic and apostolic Church on the Easter Vigil at Trinity Church, Baton
Rouge. Also, Greg Little will be joined to Janice Blackburn in Holy Matrimony on Easter Saturday at Trinity UMC,
Durham. We enjoyed the company of Natalie and Frances Wentzel (All Saints, Thomasville, GA) for a week. In
town for a recent Duke Divinity School Anglican-Episcopal House event, the Rev. Canon Emily Hylden, of Trinity
Cathedral, Columbia, SC, celebrated a weekday Mass in St. Clare Chapel and rekindled her cheese grits making
skills at St. Josephs.
We hope you will pray for and with us, visit us, and send us your spare change.+

SMART PHONE?
The idols of the heathen are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
eyes have they, but they cannot see;
They have ears, but they cannot hear;
noses, but they cannot smell;
They have hands, but they cannot feel;
feet, but they cannot walk;
they make no sound with their throat.
Those who make them are like them,
and so are all who put their trust in them.
Psalms 115:4-8 & 135:15-18

Holy Week 2015

"7

Good Friday

Tyler Hambley, Catholic Worker, Durham

The cross
Today, we confront that which weve known was
coming all week. Today, we assemble beneath the
dark shadow cast before us by the cross of Christ.
What can be said that has not already been said
about this instrument of death? How might we get
our heads around this suffering of Jesus? The answer,
of course, is that we cannot we cannot adequately
explain the cross! We cannot make it more palatable,
or subject it to our own desires for certainty and
meaning. This is death were talking about, and none
of us can fully comprehend death, let alone the death
of the Son of God.
Indeed, the cross resists our comforting certainties.
It deFies our logic and denies our attempts to choose
some higher meaning for it. For sure, we can try to
come up with neat atonement theories; we can turn
the cross into an existential symbol for suffering; we
can even try to make the cruciFixion all about our
guilt and our sin in other words, all about us. But
h e r e a g a i n , t h e c r o s s r e f u s e s s u c h e a s y
appropriations. In the end, there simply is no Final
shifting of focus onto the human condition that
adequately accounts for everything thats happening
on the cross.
You see, what we have here is the deepest and
darkest of all mysteries! Everything weve ever
thought about power, about love, about justice, is
totally turned over and surpassed by Christs passion.
And while the cross does have a whole lot to do with
us while it is largely about our salvation it has
very little to do with any salvation scheme we might
think up on our own behalf. For as the prophet Isaiah
says, All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all
turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Silence, it seems, is the only appropriate response to
the mystery of the cross. But silence does not mean
despondent dread or meaninglessness. Rather,
silence at the foot of the cross may open us out onto
that which is truly interesting
The Gospel of John gives us a whole trial asking the
question of whether this man this Jesus of Nazareth
"
8

is a king or not. And if a king, what kind of king is

he? Moreover, we read that Pontius Pilate becomes
frightened at the possibility that this man may even
be the Son of God. Yet when we hear Jesus invoke
Psalm 22 from the cross, we are startled at rereading
it: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me and
are so far from my cry and from the words of my
distress? [] Be not far from me, for trouble is near
and there is none to help.
Such a cry doesnt sound very king-like. Kings are
sovereign and in control after all! Kings have
authority to arrange people as they please. More
importantly, kings hold the power of who lives and
who dies. In that light, Caesar was a king. We might
say that our national government today is a kind of
king. Certainly, modern technology arranges our
social order in life-or-death ways. Even science and
medicine hold sovereign sway on our hopes and
dreams. But this man, this one hanging and bleeding
on the cross surly, he could be no king. He is dying!
He is being executed! Our faith in kings is rooted,
First and foremost, in their keeping death under their
control. SpeciFically, kings are those entities we hope
might protect us from, even help us deny, the reality
of our own deaths. How can this man the one
nailed to a cross be a King? For emptied of our
notions of power and authority, Jesus leaves us only
with quiet stillness. Like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter, Isaiah says, and like a sheep that before
its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
If only an unsettling silence greets us, then perhaps
what we encounter here on Good Friday is not the
desired answers to our readymade questions
regarding life and death. Rather, perhaps we are
glimpsing an entirely different order altogether one
fashioned by the incomprehensible life of the Holy
Trinity. For when we look again with new eyes at this
cross, what is revealed is the depth of love shared
between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Under this
fresh viewing, we see the cross is indeed about us
only because it is First about this mysteriously Triune
God who refuses to abandon us to our death-dealing
ways. The sacriFice of the Son by the Father, and the
willingness of the Son to be sacriFiced, is not, then,
about anyones satisfaction, Gods or ours. It is rather
the supreme earthly display of Trinitarian love.
(continued on pg. 9)
Holy Week 2015

(Good Friday cont.)

Christ dies; he descends into hell. In so doing, he

extends divine love to human frailty all the way down,
even to the deepest, darkest corners of our deadly
fallenness. The cross is not about us First; it is about
God!

Yes, here, at the precipice of cruciform silence, this

darkest of Fridays becomes something we oddly call
Good! For while this Friday is haunting, while it is
incomprehensible, it opens up a life to us freed of the
burdens of our death-dealing schemes. Here, in the
silent way of the cross, we Find ourselves wrapped in
the deep depths of the Trinity in love. For as we also
know this day, the cross is only one end of Gods
embrace! Good Friday has no meaning apart from
the heights of Easter Sunday. Silent darkness will
give way to joyful resurrection. What a blessed
mystery this is!

Yet, from here, the haunting silence of this cruciform

rabbit hole goes deeper, for the cross of Christ does
not leave us perplexed, standing dumbfounded at its
foot. Rather, from this peculiar throne, our cruciFied
King beckons us come and die with him! He invites
us to enter into the triune mystery of his love love
shaped by the contours of a sacriFice to end all
earthly sacriFices. And once inside this divine
mystery, he beckons us look back out from the cross
to view our world through the sovereign lens of his
cruciform embrace. For only by jumping headlong
into this beautiful mystery, and by taking up our own
crosses, do we Find our embrace of the world
deepened and stretched by Gods embrace as Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. This God refuses to abandon us
to our desperate, torturous, and self-sabotaging
attempts at Finding security fashioned by our own
devices, whether of cross, car, cruise ship, or cruise
missile. Instead, he offers to take us on the most
unexpected and surprising journey of all one full of
light-hearted cheer and hopeful charity internal to
the life of a God whose love stretches deeper and
wider than we could possibly imagine!
Indeed, on this Good Friday, Christ the King invites us
to dance in the shadow of the cross with unbounded
expectations. We are freed from the pressure to run
vainly away from death. We are freed from looking
for sovereign assurances or sensible salvation
schemes anywhere we can. In fact, instead of leaving
death for the very end of life, we are called to get
started with it as soon as possible (often right after
our being born). One by one, we enter the waters of
Holy Baptism immersing ourselves in Christs death,
yet emerge re-membered put back together in that
new body, which is the cruciFied Body of Christ.
Somehow, in this new life after death, we are given
the freedom to Finally enjoy, to Finally drink deeply of
Gods good gifts. Here, through Christs cross we are
taken up into the divine communion freed from the
pursuit of a perceived need for self-actualization.
Here, we discover that we are anything but nothing.
Our signiFicance is bound to a love so excessive in its
abundance; we couldnt possibly have imagined it for
ourselves.

Holy Week 2015

So today, may we re-member ourselves in the passion

of our Lord. May we remember our baptisms in the
deep well of love that is Christs death on a cross.
And, may we all continue to make that cruciform sign
over our bodies that testiFies to the mysterious
beauty lying just beyond that darkest silence:
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.+

"9

Easter

St. John Chrysostom

Archbishop of Constantinople, (c. 349-407)

If any be a devout lover of God, let him partake with gladness from this fair and radiant feast.
If any be a faithful servant, let him enter rejoicing into the joy of his Lord.
If any have wearied himself with fasting, let him now enjoy his reward.
If any have labored from the First hour, let him receive today his rightful due.
If any have come after the third, let him celebrate the feast with thankfulness.
If any have come after the sixth, let him not be in doubt, for he will suffer no loss.
If any have delayed until the ninth, let him not hesitate but draw near.
If any have arrived only at the eleventh, let him not be afraid because he comes so late.
For the Master is generous and accepts the last even as the First.
He gives rest to him who comes at the eleventh hour
in the same was as him who has labored from the First.
He accepts the deed, and commends the intention.
Enter then, all of you, into the joy of our Lord.
First and last, receive alike your reward.
Rich and poor, dance together.
You who fasted and you who have not fasted, rejoice together.
The table is fully laden: let all enjoy it.
The calf is fatted: let none go away hungry.
Let none lament his poverty; for the universal Kingdom is revealed.
Let none bewail his transgressions; for the light of forgiveness has risen from the tomb.
Let none fear death; for death of the Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed death by undergoing death.
He has despoiled hell by descending into hell.
He vexed it even as it tasted of His Flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he cried:
Hell was Filled with bitterness when it met Thee face to face below;
Filled with bitterness, for it was brought to nothing;
Filled with bitterness, for it was mocked;
Filled with bitterness, for it was overthrown;
Filled with bitterness, for it was put in chains.
Hell received a body, and encountered God. It received earth, and confronted heaven.
O death, where is your sting?
O hell, where is your victory?
Christ is risen! And you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is risen! And the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is risen! And the angels rejoice!
Christ is risen! And life is liberated!
Christ is risen! And the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the First-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power, now and forever, and from all ages to all ages. Amen!+
10

Holy Week 2015

Weekly Schedule
At St. Josephs Episcopal Church
(1902 W. Main St.)
Morning Prayer: 7:30am Mon-Fri
Breakfast: 8:00am Mon-Fri
Evening Prayer: 5:30pm Mon-Fri
At St. Clare Chapel, Maurin House
(1116 Iredell St.)
Holy Eucharist 6:25am Mon-Fri
Evensong: 6:00pm Sun
Supper: 6:30pm Fri, Sun
Compline: 8:30pm Fri, Sun
At. St. Mary House
(302 Powe St.)
Supper: 6:30pm Tues

Donate These Things!

$500 for an annual CSA to Granite Spgs. Farm
$30k for a Priests Stipend
coee
Laundry detergent
Dish soap
Farm land
Toilet paper
13-gallon trash bags
Fresh vegetables
Grocery cards
Wheat sandwich bread

All are welcome anytime.

Editors
Fr. Justin Fletcher
Dr. Crystal Hambley
Tyler Hambley
Leigh Edwards Miller

Fr. Colin Miller

Joe Sroka
Michelle Sroka
Fr. Mac Stewart

Contact Us
The best way to get involved is to come to the
Daily Office at St. Josephs Episcopal Church,
Monday through Friday at 7:30 am and 5:30
pm. You can also call Fr. Colin at 919-BUMCHIN (919-286-2446) or the Peter Maurin
House at 919-BUM-1-CFW (919-286-1239).
Holy Week 2015

11

The Little Way is a pamphlet of the Community of the Franciscan Way, a Mission of the Episcopal Diocese of
North Carolina. We seek a life of prayer, study, simplicity, and fellowship with the poor. We stand in the
tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement, founded in 1933 by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day. The Peter
Maurin Catholic Worker House offers food and shelter to the poor. Funds are directly used for the performance of
the corporeal and spiritual Works of Mercy, and no one in the House draws any salary from contributions.
Donations always welcome.

The Corporal Works of Mercy

To feed the hungry
To give drink to the thirsty
To clothe the naked
To harbor the harborless
To visit the sick
To ransom the captive
To bury the dead

The Community of the Franciscan Way

1116 Iredell Street

Durham, NC 27705
(919) BUM-1-CFW
cfw.dionc.org

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

To instruct the uninformed
To counsel the doubtful
To admonish sinners
To bear wrongs patiently
To forgive offenses willingly
To comfort the afflicted
To pray for the living and the dead